Endangered Species
By Kathleen Bolton | January 18, 2011 |
Before I get into the meat of my post, you’ll remember that aspiring author Dale Mayer wrote a guest post for Writer Unboxed in mid-December, describing her rush to create an online presence because she’d recently become a finalist in Brava’s Writing with the Stars contest. We’re pleased to tell you that she’s moved on to another round, and is now in the top 4. Congratulations, Dale! If you’d like to check out the contest and vote, please visit the Brava’s Writing with the Stars contest page.
We’ve lamented many times on WU the disappearance of the independent bookstore (as contributor Brunonia Barry has chronicled). Corporate bookstores are also feeling the pinch, and as is happening in many communities across the US, I’ll lose my local Borders in 2011. Which sucks because my local indie bookstore is long gone, so Borders has taken the place of my neighborhood bookly nook.
As you can imagine, my family traffics in a healthy amount of books. We spent a lot of time in that Borders, an oasis of civility in mass market consumerism that is the American mall. My daughter attended storytimes; I’ve met fellow authors in their café, browsed for hours and bought more than I should have. Borders cards were our gift of choice. Once that Borders goes, the only bookstores left are a university bookstore that caters to students and faculty – like my kid wants to thumb through literary mags and textbooks – and a Barnes & Noble all the way across town. Our family won’t have a space to hang out and browse, buy unwisely, fritter away the afternoon. I’ve lost a place to hold a booksigning.
The digital age continues to rack up casualties (and yes, I’m well aware that authors might benefit the most from this shift ). The irony is that book sales are on the rise (finally!) in the U.S. Just not enough to help Borders. The clerk who has been there since the store opened and watched my daughter go from picture books to Sarah Dessen novels will be out of a job, as will the barrista who knows how to make my mocha latte without too much syrup. Where will the blind dates, and the low-stakes coffee getting-to-know-you dates take place? Applebees? It just doesn’t sound the same.
I guess I always had the knowing of it in the back of my mind that this day would come soon, but soon is now and I can’t help but lament the disappearance of public spaces for books outside of libraries.
But I got used to Tower Records closing, so I guess I’ll get used to this.
Have you lost your neighborhood bookstore? How has it impacted you? Were you as bummed as I am?
Kathleen Bolton is co-founder of Writer Unboxed. She writes under a variety of pseudonyms, including Ani Bolton.
She has written two novels as Cassidy Calloway: Confessions of a First Daughter, and Secrets of a First Daughter–both books in a YA series about the misadventures of the U.S. President’s teen-aged daughter, published by HarperCollins, and Tamara Blake, for the novel Slumber.
This is sad and tragic news.
For the last few years I have watched Borders take massive losses.
They posted a 46.7 million net loss in their second quarter of 2010. During the same period the year before they reported a 45.6 million net loss. Their C.E.O. Mike Edwards said in a statement: “Recognizing that online and digital will be a significant part of our business moving forward, we are focused on increasing our share of the e-book market…”
They realized this too late and it sucks.
In Canada we have not lost our version of Borders, which is a store called Chapters, but they have recently been undertaking massive alterations (renos) to stay competitive in today’s market.
The future will hold an interesting placard. I only hope that it doesn’t proclaim the end is near for all bookstores.
At least I don’t think it does…
Arthur Vanderbilt, in the Making of a Best Seller, says “The initial hurdle to selling books—and it’s a Matterhorn of a hurdle—is that nobody reads.”
He notes that while we are a nation of 300 million, the sale of a mere 50,000 copies can put a book on the best-seller list. One million, and the book is a huge best-seller, even though that means half of 1 percent of the reading public has bought it. Vanderbilt points out that John Steinbeck was amazed that the print run in Denmark for one of his novels was the same as the print run in the United States. Denmark has two-percent of our population. Les Standiford in The Man Who Invented Christmas said Charles Dickens was selling his work to somewhere between one-fifth and one-quarter of the literate public of a nation. Standiford said, “Compare those figures with modern-day America, where 200 million or so literate adults constitute the potential ‘book-buying public,’ and where a sale of 75,000 to 100,000 copies—one-twentieth of one percent—is often enough to put an author high up on the list of New York Times bestsellers.” So the main problem is a dire one: few people read.
Sigh. I do cling to this fantasy that the loss of the big box book stores (ooh–nice alliteration!) will make room for the re-emergence of the indi bookseller.
A girl can dream, can’t she?
I’m much more of an optomist than the rest of the writers out there. I read that because literacy rates are so high, MORE people read now than at any other time in history.
Bookstores are closing, but we’re in a recession and all kinds of stores are closing. Small stores everywhere have slowly died out because of bigger companies, especially grocery stores, but that doesn’t mean people aren’t eating anymore.
Borders is going bankrupt, but they’re just one company. How is Barnes and Nobles doing? How is Books-a-Million?
The current state of bookstores makes us authors uneasy, but I don’t believe the future is set in stone by any means.
So many changes!
New options come along. What will be next?
Patricia
PM_Poet Writer
I live in California near Santa Barbara. BOTH Borders and B&N closed their doors–almost simultaneously. They were located kitty-corner to one another and will be replaced by clothing stores. What a shock.
Fortunately, a couple indy booksellers are still in business! I expect their sales will soar.
I’m happy to report my small town is lucky to have a brand new children’s book shop. You can’t digitize picture books. I’m hopeful they’ll expand to include adult fare.
Our local independent bookstore (in our town of 17,000) is surviving and doing well–probably in part because we don’t have a big box store and never have had one. She caters to individuals, to the uniqueness of Eastern Oregon. She doesn’t serve coffee. If print books disappear, well . . . I guess her store will go too, but you can’t read a picture book on a Kindle, nor pour over the pages. Books aren’t music; the publishing industry, big bookstores included, needs to stop backing into the future–or perhaps worse–be dragged kicking and screaming.
” Books aren’t music; the publishing industry, big bookstores included, needs to stop backing into the future–or perhaps worse–be dragged kicking and screaming.”
I hear ya, Sarah, but unfortunately people are ripping copies of e-books from their Kindles and Nooks and sharing the files the same way they pirate MP3 files of music. It’s my opinion that in less than five years, the publishing industry will be facing the same crisis as the recording industry. If not sooner.
I’m Canadian, too, and it seems like the biggest infrastructure change happened for us 5-10 years ago. We had about three chains become one (Chapters/Indigo), and in my city, two of the four indies went under.
Now our chain is changing at the micro level. I watch as they attempt to incorporate digital books, but don’t have their e-readers at each site to sell, nor a staff that can answer the most basic questions about them. At least 30% of the merchandise is stationery or toys, another 20% reserved for no-brainer celebrity books. There’s little of “book” left in “bookstore” already.
Where I’ll be utterly devastated, though, is if the library-heart ceases to beat. I HOPE that’s where the book-loving community will migrate: authors, readers, those who love to love them… We’ll see. That is one thing my country does reasonably well: community institutions about learning.
Doh! Forgetful-Jan is forgetful: Congratulations, Dale, and good luck!
The changes in the bookstore world is unsettling since everyone has predictions of where things are headed, but nobody knows for sure which of these will actually come true. What distresses me is that it always seems to be pitched as a doomsday “either/or” scenario–a reality show version of “Last Bookstore Standing”.
We love stories and storytelling, and always will. Nowadays that need is filled with things in addition to books, such as movies, TV, even Facebook and Twitter. Even so, there is still a lot of reverence for books, in all formats.
I’m hopeful that the craving for stories and storytelling will be what keeps things headed the right direction, rather than the desire to pick the “winner” in this crazy battle.
P.S. Dale, congrats on being in the Top 4. What an achievement! Fingers crossed for you. :)
I live on a small island off Canada’s west coast (population 1,000). Up until a few years ago, my local bookstore was an hour away by ferry.
What happened a few years ago?
Miners Bay Books
The owner is very supportive of local talent. In fact, the inclusion of my self-published cozy on her bookshelves was the validation I needed to set out on a journey. This journey led me to Decadent Publishing and the recent release of my thriller The Sweater Curse.
Up until relatively recently, living in rural area meant our selection is greatly limited.
What happened relatively recently?
The Internet
Now readers are connected authors–wherever they may be.
I support my local bookstore and I thank the heavens for the Internet.
Hi Kathleen!
Wanted to pop in and say hi and thank you for posting the update on the Brava contest for me. That’s awesome and I so appreciate it!
Then there’s your blog – such sad news. The industry is in a crazy state of flux and it’s going to be five years I think before we even see where this washes out. As a writer I’d like to think we’re adaptable and will roll with the model. We’re in interesting times.
Dale
And then a duh from my side. I forgot to say thanks for the congrats and best wishes from Jan and Donna! Thanks ladies!
Dale
I don’t know if it’s my “Jewish guilt” but when I hear of a bookstore closing nearby I feel responsible . . . I tell myself I didn’t buy enough books, browsed too many times, didn’t request books as gifts as often as I should have . . . (Of course I’ve bought MANY books, but maybe I used Amazon more than the store, etc.)
We have a Borders, a B&N and an indie store. The B&N store is always packed. The Borders is never packed. I especially worry for my indie, though I love it dearly.
Go, Dale, go!
I’m very sad about Borders, but I can’t help but be a little hopeful that the indie’s will reclaim their position in the market. I think many people will still want paper books (I still buy them even though I have a Kindle), book signings, storytimes, and the joy of browsing. Hopefully the indie’s can provide that experience and keep the paper book alive and thriving alongside its digital cousin.
Between Nina’s “Jewish guilt” and my “Catholic guilt” I think the two of us carry the burden for the world ;) I recently wrote a post lamenting the declining need for bookmarks, so I think you can guess how I feel about this other endangered species.
Our closest Borders closed last month which sends me to B&N a little further away. We have a wonderful indie bookstore in Kansas City called Rainy Day Books but it is no where near my home. i would love to support it more but it would have to be for a specific book, not just for browsing or a place to go hang out. I don’t see them going out of business because they have a very good reputation in the world of books and they pull in some great authors for book signings. It just bums me out that they aren’t closer.
In my neck of the woods,I think Target has become the place to pick up a quick book. Easy and convenient for the casual reader. Not enough for me, however.
Wowsie wow, Dale. So exciting! Best of luck!
When our local independent closed years ago it was dreadful and sad, but I remember thinking, well, at least we still have the Borders down the road (not as wonderfully close or convenient, but down the road…) Now, if Borders goes (or, possibly I should say WHEN it goes,)there’s no “at least.”
We do have a fabulous little used book store run by the Senior Center right in town, which is a warm, cheerful, and browse happy space, but the newly published author in me worries about a place for my pretty new novel in all of this.
You go, Dale! I’m heading over to the site to vote. :)